Another night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in the books, and the New York Rangers took advantage of home ice to take a 2-0 series lead over the Washington Capitals.
Meanwhile in Florida, the Lightning erased an early two-goal Panther lead in what ended up being the first game of this year's NHL playoffs to go to overtime.
Here are some takeaways from last night's two big Eastern Conference matchups.
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NHL Playoffs Reaction: Rangers Hold Off Capitals, Take 2-0 Lead
The Rangers took game 1 fairly easily on Sunday, and it looked like this series was on its way to the widely-projected sweep that was expected.
The Capitals put up a much better fight on Tuesday, nearly avoiding that fate. Washington struck first before falling behind 4-2, but the Caps weren't quick, as they got within 4-3 and just couldn't find the net during a well-executed six-on-five sequence.
It's never good to be down 2-0, but when this type of loss is the one that comes in game 2, it could serve as enough of a moral victory to rally around in front of a raucous home crowd in game 3.
The Rangers are the far superior team though, and the Capitals just don't have much of a chance to beat them the requisite four out of five times now necessary.
New York's power play was great on Tuesday, Alexis Lafreniere had a multi-point game, and defenseman K'Andre Miller joined the offensive push with a shorthanded goal.
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NHL Playoffs Reaction: Panthers Down Lightning in First OT Game
It almost took a week of playoff action, but we finally got our first overtime game of the playoffs on Tuesday night in game 2 between the Lightning and Panthers.
After Florida handled business in game 1, they jumped right back out in front Tuesday with a 2-0 lead in the first period.
With their backs against the wall, the Lightning showed their championship pedigree in the second, as Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov struck to tie the game.
Tampa had a golden opportunity to take a 3-2 lead later, but Sergei Bobrovsky delivered arguably the save of the year to keep it tied up.
The third period went by without a goal, but overtime didn't last long as former Lightning Carter Verhaeghe scored 2:59 into the extra stanza to give the Panthers a 3-2 win and 2-0 series lead.
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